The official opening for the J. Lindsay Embrey Engineering Building is set for September 8, 2006. This event marks the beginning of an explosion of green building projects slated for the Dallas area. Sustainable construction is here to stay, but this project could be a precursor to greater things at SMU…namely, the Green Presidential Library!

Green President Bush Library:There’s a heated race for the Bush Library, and SMU is one of the finalists. The Embrey Building embodies SMU’s commitment to responsible, efficient building practices. It’s not that big of a stretch to think that if SMU were to receive the nod for Bush’s Library, it would build the library in a sustainable manner. Understanding there are a myriad of intricacies before that process works out, let me just put this into the blogosphere: Bush should pick SMU and top off his presidential legacy by building the first green presidential library in the country.

I should add, in full disclosure, that SMU is my school of choice for two graduate degrees (JD & MBA), so I have a modicum of bias. But all partisan allegiance aside, I hope SMU can continue its green building legacy with future sustainable building. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me talk about the building. I know, it’s not really modern, it’s Collegiate Georgian architecture, but the LEED stuff is what I’m going to hammer away.

Turner Construction:Recently, I blogged about Turner being #7 in large design and construction firms for having LEED Accredited Professionals (LAP). This Embrey Building isn’t the only green building in the Turner Portfolio. Purely in the Dallas metroplex, Turner is renovating Haworth‘s two floor furniture showroom (LEED), constructing the new LEED Corgan Associates offices in the West End, and completed Wal-mart‘s green prototype store. Not bad Turner!

Embrey Building Features:There’s a rather detailed article about many of the things SMU did to receive LEED points, but I want to talk about just a few:

A three story light column funnels natural light into the interior

The lighting system is run by motion detectors

High reflective pavers (with marble chips) reflect heat from the building for cooling

Rainwater is captured and held in a tank across the street

Gray water is used for drought tolerant landscaping

Landscaping will use natural pesticides rather than poisons

An information kiosk will provide information on sustainable building and real-time building stats on building temperature and power usage

All lumber has chain of custody certificates from certified forests

To quote the SMU Dean of Engineering, Dean Geoffrey Orsak said, "A decade from now, I can’t imagine constructing a building that doesn’t include at least some aspects of LEED…once you’ve built one, you will want all of your buildings to be LEED certified." Yes, indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, green building is the trend.

As August starts to wind down, I’d like to kick out a quick, Sunday shout to those of you that are reading my blog and taking the time to email, comment, or place a Jetson Green link on your site. As I’ve tried to post little snippets of what I think is cool and green, many of you have provided excellent feedback and I look forward to all the sustainable green news I can handle during the next month. Bookmark this blog or subscribe to the feed; feel free to come back often and interact as often as you like.

Here are some of the noteworthy friends of Jetson Green who send large amounts of traffic and continue to add value to Jetson Green (alphabetical order):

Archinect – Great place for architecture and building news; the best place to connect with all things architectural. Architect + Connect…

Biz News Blog – Blog about business and environmental aspects of business. Interesting post about Hong Kong the other day.

E, The Environmental Magazine – They have a good section on green living, which includes the most recent topics on natural sodas, eco-travel, eco-awareness, green multi-level marketing, and flowers.

Green At Work Today – The ultimate source for a reliable aggregation of environmental news from the best sources. Very interesting and relevant reading material!!

Green Technolog – A cool blogger talking about all aspects of technology that will help the world achieve a sustainable future. Recently, he’s talking about E85, California’s solar news, and clean free energy.

Sustainable Log – Home of the awesome "Headlines from the Green Blogosphere."

Tom Konrad EE/RE Investing – The green blogosphere’s welcome Ph.D and independent investment advisor who has forgotten more than most people know about investing, energy, and everything else environmental. Great blog!

I thought I would post information on this home, not because of its superior green features, although it does have green features, but because of the architect’s attention to modern design and the client’s needs. It’s an excellent looking abode…and at a price tag of $3.2 million, who wouldn’t want it! The sustainable crutch to this Belmont, Massachusetts modern residence is the geothermal heating and cooling pump, but it also comes designed with a water and energy scheme. That’s not all, however…

Architecturally designed by Mary Ann Thompson Architects, every aspect of this home was carefully crafted. Thompson designed the U-shaped 4,500 square-foot home specifically for the owner’s large 3-acre lot with a serene pond and meadow. Specifically, rooms receive light on two sides and are designed so that internal activity traces the sun’s path throughout the day. The building also includes the passive design features of overhanging trellises on the southern and western fascades and incorporated cross-ventilation.

Another feature of this home, specific to this family’s needs, is the handicap-accessible guest wing. It is possible that the owner’s elderly parents move in with the family, so these features allow for a wheelchair in the shower and a future ramp for multi-level mobility. To quote the architect, "The house was designed to create a continuum, and this family wants to stay here through retirement and beyond…it’s truly a home for living."

The number of LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED AP) has increased 20 percent year over year, bringing the total number of LEED APs to 25,000. Accreditation is received from the USGBC, and the rapid increase in LEED APs is a sign of the trend towards sustainable design, construction, and architecture.

BD&C’s article lists LEED AP numbers for each of the top 100 giant design and construction firms. This information is helpful, especially for companies and developers making their first foray into the green business, because it demonstrates who has the knowledge and expertise to build green.

Green building and sustainable design is a major trend that anyone in the industry should start to realize: real estate agents, designers, engineers, architects, contractors, home builders, developers, owners, REITs, RE management companies, etc.

As a person smitten with the entrepreneurial bug, I always love to read Business 2.0 magazine when it comes in the mail. And it’s not that the magazine has ideas for me to start businesses, but it makes me think differently about trends and the future …it makes me come up with new business ideas.Business 2.0’s September Magazine contains an article about Adobe’s retrofitted USGBC-certified, LEED Platinum building.

This article is awesome because Jeff Nachtigal, the author, actually quantifies each retrofit and illustrates that going green makes economic sense. Some of my counterparts in the blogosphere are adamant that going green is about doing the right thing for our planet, and I respect that, but as a businessman and entrepreneur, going green must make economic sense. Generically speaking, public companies have a fiduciary duty to the shareholder to create value, so there should be some financial incentive to adopt green concepts into buildings. Now there is.

Here are some of the eco-friendly renovations and the break even calculations:

These are hard, quantifiable savings. The payback on investments like these is relatively soon, the most attenuated being close to five years out. That's not a bad payback period at all! So these are rational, smart, responsible decisions, and other companies should take notice that Adobe has raised the bar for building operating efficiencies. It's time to hop on the train.

What’s more amazing is that Adobe has been able to foster the right business climate that allows employees to notice waste and make the right changes on a going forward basis. That’s where the real benefits will be realized…and further, employees buy into the benefits and go home making similar changes to their homes. Then they will tell their friends how they saved on their monthly utility bills because of some pragmatic, and economic, changes. Great article Business 2.0!

Applications for building permits have slowed down, some projects have been tosssed, and interest rates are inching higher. Homes sales will be ugly, to use the headline of one news article. All the while, real estate agents are scampering, trying to drum up business and continue the high life. I’m not a real estate agent, but from what I understand, the good ones make real good money and the bad ones make good money, so it hasn’t been that bad of a market…until, the Fed started to cool things off. Enter: EcoBrokers, GreenHomesForSale.com, and differentiation.

I noticed two articles on the same day about EcoBrokers, one on USGBC website and the other on MarketWatch. Becoming an Ecobroker means differentiating yourself from hundreds of other run-of-the-mill real estate agents, and it’s smart business. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the 2005 green building market ($7.4 Billion) is expected to reach from $19 to $38 billion by 2010. The tipping point, or the point where more green homes are built than non-green homes, is supposed to be in around 2007.

According to the MarketWatch article, buyers are interested more in the energy-saving, cost-cutting, sustainable features than the "save the earth" rhetoric (go figure!). And while features can vary from home to home (read: there will be a green standards war just like the current standards war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray), these EcoBrokers are going to have a leg up in explaining to purchasers and sellers the best ways to market homes. Certification for EcoBrokers will cover topics such as energy-efficiency ratings, asbestos, VOCs and lead paint, and indoor air quality.

Even more interesting, at the website, www.ecobroker.com, there is a designation guarantee that says the following: "Earn the EcoBroker designation, and apply the marketing and sales skills you learn. During the first year of your designation, you will increase your personal commission income, or we will refund 100% of your designation fee." From what I understand, the costs are $395, so that should be money well spent. The market is heading that direction (as the NAHB quote urges), so it’s smart to get in early.

Another website is www.greenhomesforsale.com. I like the concept; it’s kind of a DIY-type place, and looks like it can be an attractive place for home listing as the listings increase. I looked at some of the listings and they can hardly be considered green (McKinney, Texas home), but it’s a good start. I found a prefab in Hawaii, that I know I’m gonna dream about tonight–if only money was sustainable on my backyard tree!

What I don’t understand about this website, however, is why they don’t invest some money in design and get rid of all those convoluted google ads, etc., sticking up all over the place like a bunch of weeds. It’s hard to take a website serious with all those cheap pay-per-click ads all over the place…my recommendation: pick a strategy for cash generation and stick with it–drive that strategy home. Looks like it costs about $60 to list for 3 months, so stick it out while your making your way down the long tail of sales.

Overall, I digg the future of what’s going on in the green real estate industry. It would be a smart move for real estate agents to get on this and learn the jargon. As the demand for green homes increase, those that can’t speak the jargon will be left trying to catch up. And might I suggest, as a parting note, since buyers are interested in the cost-benefits of green, the jargon includes being able to calculate payback periods, breakevens, inflation, and discounted cash flows, etc.